Seat belt buckles are commonly mounted in a vehicle near the base of a vehicle seat and may be difficult for a vehicle occupant to see when attempting to insert or remove a seat belt buckle tongue from the seat belt buckle. Visibility and ease of use of a seat belt buckle may be enhanced by illuminating at least a portion of the seat belt buckle that is to be interacted with by the vehicle occupant when buckling and/or unbuckling the seat belt.
The present invention provides a means of powering the lighting elements with the necessary craftsmanship required for luxury motor vehicles. In addition, the technology is readily available for mass production unlike other lighting technologies proposed previously.
An added benefit to vehicle manufacturers of buckle illumination is the opportunity to promote safety improvements for actual seat belt usage through visible recognition of unbelted conditions. Illumination can be provided in virtually any color based on the desire of vehicle manufacturer's input and can be a constant Illumination level (on-off through buckling and unbuckling) or with “fading/increasing” intensity based on the input of sensing and control systems in a vehicle. Seat belt buckle illumination strategies may provide improvements in belt usage through increased visibility, safety through a haptic warning (flashing) when an occupant unbuckles, and even post-crash response time via using the illumination to provide EMS responders an indication of a vehicle occupant's location and the number of occupants in a vehicle.